As part of its product range, Hollands Country Clothing Limited sells certain age restricted items. These include Leatherman multi-tools, Buck and Opinel knives, and more.
In order to support the safe and legal sale of these items, we have put into place age verification checks, so that any of our age restricted items will only be sold to customers over the age of 18.
To help our customers understand the age verification process and what it means for them, we’ve answered some frequently asked questions below.
Why do I need to prove I’m over the age of 18 to buy these items?
As per the Criminal Justice Act 1988, it is an offence for any person to sell bladed articles to someone under the age of 18.
Bladed articles are defined as a ‘knife, knife blade, razor blade, axe, or other article with a blade or sharp point, which is made or adapted to use for causing injury to a person’.
This applies to any article which is, or has, a blade, including multi-tools.
Section 2 of the Offensive Weapons Act 2019, which was revised on 6 April 2022, also outlines the legal requirements for the sale and delivery of bladed articles:
As a retailer of bladed articles, we take our responsibility to ensure the safe and legal sale of such items very seriously; in order to protect both our customers and communities.
What happens when I buy one of these items from your store?
When a customer places an order on our website for any bladed article product, they will be required to go through the age verification process. This includes the use of a third-party company called AgeChecked Limited.
After a customer has completed the checkout process, AgeChecked Limited completes an ‘Age Check’ on that customer.
What is an AgeCheck?
An ‘Age Check’ is defined as ‘an action performed by [AgeChecked Limited] to ensure that a Member is within a required age range to access goods or services online that have age restrictions associated with them’.
Usually, this is done so quickly that you don’t even notice it has happened. But please ensure to stay on the browser after you’ve completed checkout, just in case the first attempt at verifying your age wasn’t successful.
Where is AgeChecked getting its data from?
All Age Checks are checked against national data bureaus that store information from bank accounts and the electoral roll.
How do I know AgeChecked is secure?
We understand and appreciate concern over personal data being shared online, and we want to make sure our customers feel safe and secure when purchasing any item from us.
AgeChecked is a leading online age verification service provider. The system they use prioritises consumer’s anonymity, and no personal data is ever kept on their system.
Hollands is also committed to ensuring the correct processing of customers’ personal data. For our full privacy policy, please click here.
If you’d like any further reassurance before or after purchasing, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
I’ve entered in all the correct information. Why have I still failed the AgeCheck?
When entering the information, please ensure that the full name, address, and date of birth matches that which would be found on the national data bureaus (such as a bank account).
If you don’t have a data trail with the national data bureaus (for instance, if you’ve never had a credit card or applied for a loan), this may lead to an unsuccessful verification.
How many attempts do I get to verify my age? What happens if I fail?
You will have three attempts to pass the age verification checks.
But if you are still unsuccessful after this stage, don’t worry. Please send us an email at info@hollandscountryclothing.co.ukwith a copy of your identification (passport or driving licence), so we can manually check you are over the age of 18.